Emotions & Life

As a teenager, you may be dealing with lots of emotional highs and lows. One minute you might feel great, the next you feel sad and tearful. This kind of shift in your moods is okay!

Your life is changing, just like your body. These mood swings are not just hormones – you may be feeling a lot more pressure these days, and you are still developing the skills you need to deal with that pressure. You may be facing added responsibilities at home, tougher grading policies in school, and your friends may be changing.

As you grow older you will develop the skills you need to manage stress, but for now, just remember you are in a tough spot and need all the support you can get. Reach out to adults and friends – there is always someone there who cares for you. This section is devoted to issues involving emotions and relationships.

Emotions

Being human is an emotional experience – we all have our moments of happiness, sadness, anger, depression, anxiety and a host of others feelings. How do we deal with those emotions? Why are some feelings harder to handle than others?

Relationships

Like emotions, everyone has some sort of relationship with other people. Unless you are a castaway on an island, you interact with people everyday. Relationships with parents, friends, and significant others (like a boyfriend or girlfriend) can be rewarding and also frustrating.

Poll Results

The results are from all respondents who took the survey (found on the right hand column) in the period from October 2007 to August 2012. 999 completed responses were received to the survey during this time.

1. As a teen, what issue about your mental health most concerns your parents?

Watch a video, answer a quiz to assess your HIV risk, or just learn more about sexual health strategies to protect you and your partner using this collection of interactive, multimedia, science-based HIV information, prevention resources, and personal stories.

This interactive HIV/AIDS Information and Personal Risk Assessment Center can help you to better understand your risks for HIV and learn more about prevention strategies. The survey and learning activities are also available in Spanish.